Tyson Foerster jumped right out of the box and into the play.
In a game where the refs were arguably letting a whole lot go, he suddenly got called for a high-stick along the boards just shy of halfway through the second period, but the Flyers managed the penalty kill, he stepped back onto the ice, and Los Angeles' Jordan Spence, unaware his backhand, slid the puck right to him.
Foerster settled it then flipped a pass to Scott Laughton streaking down the boards and into the Kings' zone, chasing down his own shot for a wrap-around attempt, which bounced straight to Foerster in front for the jam home.
The Flyers were tied, and in business, against a big, physical L.A. team, and a few minutes later, Foerster came back down and settled up in front to take in a pass from Morgan Frost for a Philadelphia lead.
The Flyers just couldn't hold it together – again. They lost 7-3 to the Kings in their return home to the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night in an effort they let completely fall apart by the end, and in the second half of a back-to-back following Wednesday's mess of a 6-4 loss in Detroit.
The Kings responded with a fortunate bounce on a point shot to the net that Anže Kopitar picked up and tucked by an outstretched Aleksei Kolosov as time was winding down in the second. Then, early into the third, Warren Foegle tipped in the go-ahead score to put L.A. back ahead.
The Flyers couldn't find a way to answer, and Kopitar tacked on his second goal with a backdoor chip to put the contest out of reach, followed by an empty-netter from Quinton Byfield and one more mark from Kevin Fiala on a defensive lapse as Philly was melting down.
"Just couldn't sustain it," head coach John Tortorella said bluntly of his team's effort postgame. "Good team we played against. Couldn't sustain it."
The Flyers dropped to 14-15-4 on the season, and have lost three straight in regulation going back to Saturday in Minnesota.
Noah Cates scored in the first on a feed out from Bobby Brink in the corner and a nifty move to the backhand, but that was countered by the opening tally on a breakaway from Fiala, where he snuck by the Flyers' entire defense on an outlet pass, and then a loose puck in between Kolosov's pads that Tanner Jeannot knocked through early into the second.
Kolosov made 20 of 26 saves with his aggressive brand of goaltending in the start, but it caught him a few times, and between L.A.'s tough checking and the Flyers' own defensive breakdowns, it all cost them.
Darcy Kuemper on the other side, stopped 23 of 26 shots with his own share of clutch saves, all as the Flyers flailed on the bulk of their other scoring chances, which is becoming a notorious habit when they're searching for any consistent offense.
"I think the biggest thing is one breakdown can't lead to two," Cates said from the locker room after Thursday night's loss. "Right now, you're kind of seeing us compound mistakes."
And that has added up to a brutal couple of nights approaching the Christmas holiday.
The Flyers will try again on Saturday when Columbus visits before they hit the road for the annual Disney On Ice trip.
A few other thoughts from the back-to-back until then...
The ones you want back
For every play the Flyers made to stay in Wednesday night's 6-4 loss in Detroit, there were always one or two more they probably would've wanted back.
A spin and a pinpoint pass to the front of the net for a tap-in from Sean Couturier to Ryan Poehling and then a break down the boards and a move to drag across the crease from Owen Tippett closed a two-goal gap, but those, combined with the first two goals from Travis Konecny and Cates, couldn't overcome general sloppiness and a lack of control over the puck.
Matvei Michkov batted a puck back into the Flyers' own zone that Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat flipped into a scoring chance stopped by Sam Ersson, but then Cam York tossed an outlet pass through the neutral zone a few minutes later that Kane came back to pick and then take down with DeBrincat for an odd-man rush.
York and Ersson were both caught on the goal the Red Wings took the lead with, and then Ersson got caught again on a Michael Rasmussen shot off a defensive zone draw that he wasn't ready for.
Poehling and Scott Laughton collided with one another trying to handle the puck up at the offensive point, which sent Joe Veleno and the Red Wings with numbers, leaving Ersson stranded.
Kane tagged the Flyers again mid-line change in the third and with a shot that Ersson had the wrong read on, and then with the empty net and time running out trying to fight for one more tie, Travis Sanheim fumbled the puck at the blue line which gave Lucas Raymond the cue to take off and put the game away.
Yeah, everyone had their fumbles in that one, and a big key for Tortorella returning home to face L.A. in the back-to-back was how the team would respond without the downtime – and against a tough opponent.
"I just want to see how we react," Tortorella said pregame. "I don't think we've played bad even when we lost some games here. I don't think we played well [Wednesday] night, and I just want us to rebound the right way against a stingy team, a big team, a team waiting for us here...
"I want to see how we react."
They battled...up until they couldn't anymore.
"The first period, we were kind of hanging on," Tortorella said afterward. "They were quicker. It's a good hockey club. It's a team that checks very well – a good challenge for us here.
"I thought we handled ourselves well for 40 minutes, but couldn't fire away through 60."
York scratched
Cam York did get a breather though.
Between the turnover across center ice that led straight to a Red Wings goal on Wednesday, which left him benched soon after, and a rough showing in the loss at Minnesota on Saturday, York, unsurprisingly, was a healthy scratch for Thursday night.
Emil Andrae, who was on his own press box reset, jumped back into the lineup.
York takes up the left side on the top defensive pairing with Sanheim, but since the 23-year-old returned from injury in late November, he hasn't been sharp, and his past two games were likely the sign to have him take a step back and a get a view from up top.
"He has struggled since he's come back," Tortorella said. "I just think he is kind of stuck in neutral a little bit."
The consequence of scratching York, however, was entirely new defensive pairs going up against L.A. cold.
Sanheim paired with Jamie Drysdale, Nick Seeler with Rasmus Ristolainen, and Andrae with Egor Zamula.
The flow and chemistry were never fully there, as evidenced by the breakdowns that were tied to each of Fiala's and Kopitar's goals.
"There were some struggles, yeah," Tortorella said.
One more save
Ersson was another Flyer who returned from injury after about a month away, and he's still trying to find his way fully back to form in goal.
Against Detroit on Wednesday night, he made some big saves with chaos in front of him, and three of the five goals he allowed to the Red Wings couldn't fully be put on him – especially the two off of turnovers that hung him out to dry. But the miss on Rasmussen off the faceoff and then on Kane's shot flying in, the Flyers needed those ones.
"He has to make another save," Tortorella said. "All the games he's played since he's been back, there needs to be one more save."
Ersson is 1-3-0 in the four games since he's been back in net. He has an .828 save percentage and 15 goals surrendered during that stretch on 87 shots faced.
Kolosov got the home start against the Kings to clean up the back-to-back, and again, he and the Flyers battled up until they couldn't.
Ersson is still the No. 1 on the goalie depth chart, and Tortorella, for now, didn't seem all that worried about him.
"He's made some really good saves, but you know, the funny thing with goaltending, you get judged by the saves you don't make," Tortorella said. "That's been a little bit of a struggle with Sam, and I think Sam has basically said that.
"As I've always said about him, that's one guy that self-evaluates very well."
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